With analyst forecasts predicting billions of connected devices driving trillions of interactions between humans and machines, companies need innovative solutions to achieve the Internet of Things’ (IoT’s) full potential for their businesses. Singapore-based, on-premise and cloud service provider UIB is leading conversational IoT innovation. The company’s popular UnificationEngine® conversational AIoT platform, a universal translator between humans and machines, is changing the way humans communicate with all of their connected systems, devices, robots, digital humans, and chatbots. CEO and Founder Toby Ruckert and his worldwide team are leveraging the latest Natural Language Understanding (NLU) Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to make human to machine communications as simple, and as natural as human to human communications.
Leveraging Diversity
Multi-faceted diversity — supported by UIB’s six core values of respect, resiliency, accountability, open communications, smart thrift, and global productivity — is UIB’s edge. How and why UIB does things defines them even more than what they make and sell. UIB also helps its customers to use its technology, such as its connected building solutions, to meet and exceed their increasingly aggressive sustainability goals.
Creating Innovation
Because UIB’s technology platform integrates messaging, AI, and IoT, they serve customers across the spectrum of industry verticals. du Telecom in the UAE, for example, has been successful in achieving its objectives using UIB’s technology. A WhatsApp Business Solution provider, UIB created a WhatsApp-powered cognitive assistant (chatbot) for du Telecom named “Blu.” Blu has allowed du Telecom to forge deeper customer connections by using the WhatsApp Business API to serve their millions of mobile, fixed-line, and broadband services customers. To keep pace with rapidly evolving customer expectations and needs, du Telecom realized that it needed to provide people with “a superior digital experience.” Customers contact du Telecom 24/7 through Blu. Using WhatsApp, they initiate conversations about bill payment, roaming service activation, online order tracking, mobile recharge, and account registration. Blu replies to customers almost instantly and has reduced the volume of queries handled by du Telecom’s call centers and retail stores.
UIB’s AI-powered customer engagement solutions deliver value not just for telecommunications service providers, but also utilities, healthcare service providers, government authorities, and many others as it helps organizations to make better use of their staff and is ideal for answering frequently asked questions at scale in natural language text and voice in any language on any channel.
Leading the Industry
The key driver behind UIB’s success is its multi-patented technology’s ability to connect users’ favorite communication platforms and brands. The company’s sales are also driven by the rollout of 5G (where an increasing number of devices and vehicles will be connected to their manufacturers’ IoT clouds), the popularity of voice-activated virtual assistants and smart speakers, and the increasing ubiquity of smart home devices such as appliances, lights, locks, cameras, and more.
For the past six years, UIB has been growing at an increasingly faster pace. It developed the IP and then built the full technology stack, integrating messaging, IoT, and AI. To further increase its growth, UIB plays a leading role in offering people choice, whether they want to own their data (and monetize it themselves), trust a device manufacturer to own their data, or trust a free (potentially ad-sponsored) service.
Reading the Zeitgeist
As CEO, Toby’s primary role is to create hope and remove fear when it comes to innovation, disruptions caused by technology and startups, and the future of living in a world powered by the collaboration of AI+HI. “It’s incredible to already see the difference we are making for companies and their customers around the world, but a lot of work still needs to be done,” says Toby. He further adds, “The most daunting part is the relentless quest for innovation while juggling the resources required to successfully bring products to market. If you’re too early, your tech is going to be too old, and if you’re too late, you’ll have missed the first-mover advantage. The only way to overcome this challenge is by continuing to get better at reading the zeitgeist and the signs of the times.”
Focusing on Well-Being
With COVID-19, Toby has faced the additional challenge of keeping his headquarters and remotely distributed teams safe, motivated, and productive and his clients happy and closely connected. Working together with clients to successfully launch projects that achieve core business objectives — especially during difficult times — turns customers and suppliers into long-term, successful partners.
Recognizing Unique Value
Winning over 30 industry awards in the past three years, UIB continues to be recognized as the company known for making human to machine communications as natural, and as simple, as human to human communications. To point, with a single UnificationEngine-powered SmartContact™ in their smartphone’s Contacts, users can talk to any cloud-connected software, hardware or service on over 30 of the world’s most popular communications channels (including WhatsApp!). Toby asserts, “Just as Gottlieb Daimler forever changed transportation, UIB is forever changing communications.”
